Denial
by casketteer
Summary: While investigating a new case Castle run's into an old flame, inflamming Beckett's nerves...But this love affair isn't all they'll have to worry about!...
1. Chapter 1

-Denial

It was the beginning of summer, as the warmth of the wind blew across the city, which was still quiet at this time, for it was barely half past five.

The sun shown throw Beckett's window as she was still fast asleep. She had gone to bed late last night having decided to finish all her paperwork from a previous case. She wanted to start her day with a fresh start.

The sun shined more and more on Kate's bed eventually, waking her. She started stretching as she woke up, looking at her alarm clock she saw that it was due to ring in 15 minutes, she then turned around and fell back asleep.

As her alarm clock rang, she stretched, listening to the days' news as she woke up slowly. She turned towards the sun which gave her the energy she needed to get up. Although she was tired out of her mind from all the work she had done the previous night she was glad it was completed.

Kate sighed and got up, looking out her window, watching a few joggers passing by. The trees were getting very leafy, summer was here and she was glad for it. Kate was standing at her window smiling back to the world when she was brought back to reality, her cell phone was ringing.

As Beckett looked at the caller ID she saw that it was Gates,

"Beckett," as she yawned gently.

"Hello Detective Beckett, we have a new case. You need to meet the rest of the team at the corner of Lexington Ave and E 21st street at Gramercy Park. Dr. Parish is already at the scene, you can get the information from her once you arrive."

"Ok I'll be there as soon as I can" and she hung up.

Now revived; she headed to the kitchen to start some coffee. She wanted to get it done while she got dressed that way she'd save a few minutes.

As she finished her coffee she headed back to her room. She put a pair of jeans on, with a nice tee. Getting dressed must have taken Kate, 2 minutes. She took her phone and dialled Castle.

"Good morning sunshine. Hope you weren't sleeping." A chuckle of laugher escaped her, she knew damn well that he was sleeping, if Castle could stay up past 7 he did.

All she could hear were groans,

"Beckett? Yeah, Yeah I'm up…where?"

"Corner of Lex and E 21st Gramercy Park."

"Ok, give me 20 minutes and I'll be there." Castle was still in bed his hair falling onto his forehead. He stretched out, and yawned.

"Castle, if it's too early you can always come and join me at the precinct, it's no big deal" Although she knew too well that one of his favourite part of the case was seeing the crime scene.

"I'm up! I'm Up! I'll be there,"

"Okay as you wish." She smiled and hung up.

Kate knew that Castle was hard to get out of bed but knew he'd give in.

Kate's coffee was now ready. She took a transport mug and headed out the door.

As Kate stepped out of her car she saw Castle get out of a cab. He seemed awkward...as though he was hung over, he put the sunglasses onto his face and got out.

"Hey Castle," she smiled and then stared a little. "Uh-Castle, are you ok?" she analyzed him more closely as she squinted her eyes.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Ok... Maybe I went to bed late, I was at The Old Haunt and things might have gotten out of hand." As he said coolly, although he obviously had a huge head ache his grimace giving it away.

"Right..." she turned and headed in Lanie's direction.

"Hey Lanie, what do we have?"

Lanie was kneeling near the body of a young woman.

"Young woman between the ages of 20-25, time of death estimated between 1:00 and 3:00 am. The cause of death is GSW to the head." As lanie pointed to the entry wound.

Kate looked at the body and analyzed it, she looked around to see if the crime scene talked to her. She was looking at anything in the surrounding area that could catch her eye.

"Espo! Any information on the vic?" as she looked up at her detective.

"Yeah, her name is Sharon Gallent, 22 years old, she worked at Sunny's Club. The person who found her was a colleague. Molly Samson." As he nodded towards the blond woman, who was talking to Ryan. "Miss. Samson said that Sharon finished work around 1:30am, she lived 3 blocks away and always walked home. Apparently she'd been working there for a year and always did so." Esposito said quickly.

He closed his notepad indicating that he was done, for now.

"Ok, thanks.-Castle?" Kate said as she looked at him. He was almost staring at the corpse, which she found weird, almost disturbing

"Yeah?...it's just that...she reminds me of someone." Castle said faintly.

"Seriously? Castle, how young do you take them?" saying so in an annoyed voice. _Sleeping with a 22 yr old seriously_ She didn't say it out loud but her face said it.

"What? NO! Come on! I don't sleep with 22 yr olds." As he looked back at Beckett, grabbing his head in the process. His reaction made his head pound in his skull.

"Ok? Then where did you see her?"

"I don't know... I-just know that she looks familiar" Castle was just standing there, trying to figure out who this woman was.

"Ok...well maybe you'll find out later." Kate started walking back to her car. "Castle? You coming?" she stopped in her tracks when she saw that he was still standing there.

After a few seconds he turned around and walked towards Beckett.

"Beckett, our vic's mother's here." Ryan announced.

Beckett was still sitting at her desk. She was looking over a few things, as Castle was writing a few notes on the Murder Board.

She got up and said: "Coming Castle?"

He turned towards her, put the cap on the marker and followed her.

Beckett opened the door and entered the room.

"Aimee?" Castle exclaimed

"Richard?" as the woman got up from her seat with a smile. "How long has it been?"

Beckett was taken off guard, she eyed the woman and then looked back at Rick.

Castle was all smiles as he met with an old acquaintance. He walked toward her and they hugged each other.

All Kate could do was wonder who this woman was to him. She stood there for a few seconds before realizing that she was the mother of their victim.

Richard was still all smiles and so was Aimee.

"Oh I don't know, twenty some years for sure..yeah definitely the 90's. I remember your hair...oh yeah that hair was...BIG" as they both burst out laughing. Both knowing too well what they were talking about

"Yeah well you loved it at the time." As the woman looked into his eyes, looking into someone with whom she had once had intimate moments with.

All Kate could think about was _Another one? Seriously?_ She didn't rush the reunion knowing that this woman's life was going to be devastating for the next few months.

Rick looked back at Kate. Her eyes said it all, _she's the mother of the victim,_ where reality hit him and he sat Aimee down.

Richard leaned into Kate's ear, to which she reacted and pulled away. As she saw his look of _oh come on I just want to tell you something_ she leaned back in.

"This is why I thought I knew the girl, she looks just like her mother." As he leaned back into his seat.

Kate observed the woman, it was true that the her daughter had a lot of her features. The long blond hair, the green eyes, her lips the more she looked at the mother the more she saw the resemblance which caused her stomach to twitch. Kate knew too well that this woman's world was about to crumble.

Kate then took control of the situation and started:

"Miss. Gallant, what can you tell us about Sharon? Was she acting weird lately? Did she mention anything about her surroundings that caught her attention? Anything that could explain her death?"

The woman nodded, tears came to her eyes.

"Sharon called me last night before going to work. Everything seemed fine, she talked about an essay she was working on for her Psych class but that's it. She had no troubles that I was aware of." As she looked down at her figures, at loss for words.

Kate looked back at Castle, who was obviously touched by this.

"Did she have trouble with people at work? Some weird client maybe?" Castle asked, looking at her, helplessly.

"No. All she told me was that there was one of her colleagues that had a tendency to attract the wrong peoples' attention, but they stuck with her. Sharon was glad that the girls' trouble didn't affect the rest of the bartenders, the drunk clients were enough to handle." A faint smile appeared on Aimee's face.

Aimee then looked up at Castle, as though to find comfort.

All he could do was smile back.

"Would you happen to know the name of this colleague?" Beckett asked while leaning in,

"Uh- I think...I think her name was Molly."

"Molly Samson?" Kate asked as she and Castle exchanged looks

"Yeah, Samson yeah that's right." As the woman agreed

"Ok, Thank you Miss. Gallant we'll give you a call as soon as we find something." Kate got up, making Aimee and Castle get to their feet.

"Good-bye Richard. I was nice seeing you again." As Aimee leaned in for another hug.

He hugged back with no hesitation, this was the least he could do for she had just lost her child.

They all exited the room and Castle walked her to the elevator, while Kate headed to her desk.

"Wow!" Espo said as he looked toward the elevator.

"What?" Kate turned to see what he was looking at, "Oh...yeah I know she's hot! Plus, turns out she's one of his old conquests." As she said with an annoyed tone and her classic eye rolling

Esposito looked at her and laughed, knowing too well that this was getting to her.

"Oh yeah she's not bad, but I was just going to say that her daughter looked just like her." As he raised an eyebrow, telling her that he got her.

She gave him a killer look and sat back down at her desk.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

After a few moments of fury in her mind, Kate realized that Castle was sitting there, looking at her.

"What?" she spat out.

"Uhhhh...ok... What's wrong with her" as he looked at Esposito.

"Bad mood I think," as he gave him a _come on man, that chick_! look

Castle looked back at him in a _what? That woman? Come on!_

Esposito shrugged pretending he didn't know why Beckett had reacted that way.

"Uh-Beckett?" Castle asked.

Kate knew that she was somewhat over reacting, she took her eyes off her keyboard, looked straight ahead. She took a mental deep breath to calm herself down and looked at Castle.

"Yeah…" she answered in a semi-annoyed yet controlled tone.

"Uh…what's wrong? What did I do?"

Beckett looked at him, seeing to well that he hadn't the slightest clue why she was this angry. She decided and thought that she might have had over reacted and she shouldn't have been that impulsive.

"Oh- yeah that…sorry, just one of those mornings I guess." As she started typing again.

"Ok, good." As he just sat there, looking at her.

"Castle I've told you before it's creepy when you watch me do paperwork. Shouldn't you be out with your old friend? You two seemed to be quite fond of each other." She slowly diminished her typing, realizing that she was jealous about a woman who used to know Castle. She rolled her eyes at herself, feeling quite foolish.

"Seriously Beckett, I was just happy to see her we had good times in college but nothing serious. I swear we dated like 3 months and then she headed to Florida because she was tired of the cold. So…we ended it." Castle was observing Kate's reaction. She turned her head to respond:

"Ok" with a faint corner smile and continued with her paper work.

Castle turned to look at Esposito, to see if it had done the job. Espo looked quickly at Beckett and saw that her eyes had cleared. He nodded back to Castle assuring him that everything was fine.

A few minutes passed when Beckett's phone rang

"Beckett,"

"Ok, Ok we're on our way." As Beckett hung up.

"Lanie's got something to show us. Let's go, Castle." As she got up from her seat and headed for the elevator.

Castle got to his feet and followed her he didn't want to piss her off again by making her wait.

"She's just an old friend." As Castle said, trying to make her talk and get this awkwardness passed them

"I didn't ask Castle, and I don't care."

"Well you weren't asking loudly. It's just that seeing her brought back old memories, nothing more." As he smiled back trying to make her smile.

"Ok, fine but I'm not smiling….I'm not"

Castle made an _oh come on, just one little smile face_ and there it was he got a small but still noticeable smile.

"So what does Lanie have to tell us?"

"Well apparently stuff that we missed at the scene. She didn't emphasize but she'll tell us once we get there."

As they arrived at the morgue they met up with Lanie in her usual lab.

"Hey Lanie, what did you find?"

"Hey Beckett, Castle… Well this woman put up quite a fight, look at her arms, she has a lot of defence bruises. Unfortunately it didn't help her to get away." She explained as she was showing the girls' forearms. Showing just how much she fought.

"How come we didn't see this before?" Castle remembered Beckett looking at the body quite thoroughly back at the scene.

"Well some bruising takes quite some time to become apparent and that's what happened here." Lanie started walking towards the far end counter, "We got a clean bullet, I'm getting it checked with ballistics, maybe something will pop up we'll see." As Lanie looked up at them, showing them the bullet.

"What's wrong with you two." As she gave them her classic eyebrow stare

"Nothing" as they both said in unison.

"Mmm-hhmmm" Lanie's tone was annoyed knowing too well something had happened

"What?" As Beckett tried to understand what all this was about.

"Well you two always seem to come up with non sense theories when I say stuff…and now you're as quiet as mice …now I know something's' up." Lanie just stood there and looked at Kate.

"No everything's fine, just not that inspiring this time around that's all." As she set off for the door.

"Let me know when you get news from ballistics," kate said as she pushed the doors open.

"Well? What's up with her?" Lanie asked Castle giving him a stare

"Umm a misunderstanding is all, I'll fix it….eventually." then he too walked out.

Beckett and Castle were sitting down at the interrogation table with Molly Samson. Molly was a blond woman in her early twenties she was a slim woman with blue eyes, her skin was lightly tanned probably from going to the tanning salon.

Beckett thought that Molly had withdrawn information when she was initially interrogated by Ryan. Beckett started :

"Molly, how long have you been working at Sunny's Club?" Beckett asked as she analyzed her.

"Umm- about two years, when I first started attending NYU. It was an easy way to make a lot of money in a small lapse of time. " Molly felt uneasy, she didn't like being in the room. But she put on her tough face and acted nonchalantly.

"We talked with Miss. Gallant, Sharon's mom, and she told us that Sharon had already mentioned that you seemed to attract the wrong kind of people, what exactly did she mean?" Beckett asked.

"Wrong kind of people? Well, all the guys that hang out at the bar are weird. I wasn't attracting more attention than any other girl. Maybe she was jealous that I made like double her tips. I mean the girl was frigid, she never let anyone flirt with her not even a little." As she looked at Castle with flirty eyes and a naughty smile.

"Really Molly?" as Beckett rolled her eyes and looked at Molly with a lifted eyebrow.

"OH! I see that you have a girlfriend, a little feisty but given that she's hot and all you tolerate her jealousy. Good Boy!" As Molly winked back at him, and redirected her stare at Beckett.

"Uh- I" Castle tried to fit in feeling quite uneasy with how all of this was going

Beckett was obviously fuming her body was tensing up and she felt heat rise up to her head. She didn't want to give into the game that Molly was playing therefore she let it go.

"Well Molly, not that it's any of your business but we're here to talk about you. So...who are the men that you deal with? Have any of them ever talked with Sharon? Have any of them ever threatened you on any occasion?" Beckett didn't like her, she felt like she was hiding something, but she needed to ask the basic questions in order to get a possible lead in the case.

"No, why are you asking if someone threatened me? I mean I'm not the one who's dead."

"Well, maybe if they threatened you they might have done the same to her."

"Oh, no, no threats," as she broke eye contact with Beckett.

"Really? Never?" Castle asked, even he had noticed her sudden change of posture and facial expression.

"Nope, never." She had only flinched a few seconds but her face was back to the tough face she had on before.

Even though Castle and Beckett had noticed her sudden change of character they didn't have much on her or from her so all they could do was let her go.

"Ok, well if any of them ever do threatened you, or if you hear any of the other girls getting threatened let us know. It might be the key to finding the killer."

"Ok, so I can go now?"

"Yeah, you can go." As Beckett showed her the door.

Molly Samson got up, and exited the room.

"Why are you letting her go?" Castle thought that they could detain her and get something out of her.

"There's no point Castle she's not scared enough and we have no way to per sway her to telling us anything. I think she's hiding something but I can't pinpoint it yet." Beckett got up from her seat, closed her leather folder and headed out the door.

As they both got the Beckett's desk Castle sat down at his usual spot, seeing that Beckett only had paperwork and that the case wasn't going anywhere he decided to go home for the rest of the day.

"Hey Beckett, I think I'm going to head home for the rest of the day. We don't have much of a lead and knowing that you find it creepy when I look at you work, I'll let you to your paperwork." As he stood up and smiled at her.

"Ok, thanks. I'll call you if anything comes up." She looked at him and smiled back. She found herself quite childish for being this mad but it was out of her control it made her mad to see him around other women, especially those who looked at him like that.

She let that thought sink in, for a few seconds and headed back to work.

Castle got home it was just around lunch time and Martha was already starting up her lunch

"Hey Kiddo, what are you doing here this early?" as Martha asked Rick with a frown knowing that something must have happened for him to be there this early.

"Oh, it's Beckett, she's weird today she freaked out when I saw Aimee Gallant-" as Martha cut him off.

"What? Aimee…the girl you dated in college? Oh Richard, Aimee is a gorgeous woman, you don't really find it weird that Beckett felt a little threatened by her?" as Martha looked back at her son, knowing how obvious it was that Kate loved him but neither of them seemed to see it or want to see it.

"What, Aimee is an old friend we dated for a while but that's it. I mean even if she would have stayed here, I wouldn't have stayed with her much longer. She was fun and oh yeah a lot of fun" as he started daydreaming into his old memories but at the sight of his mothers' stare he continued: "-anyways, I wouldn't have stayed with her, we were too different. In the long run it wouldn't have worked out." As he convinced his mother of his intentions.

"Yeah, but still she's still a beautiful woman and Beckett might have felt threatened by her."

"Why? It's not like we were talking about getting back together or talked for hours about old memories…"

"Right, well- Richard? How did you two meet? Weren't you at a crime scene this morning?"

"Yeah, I was. She's the mother of the victim. That's how we met, in a very unfortunate circumstance. I hadn't seen her in over 20 years and there she was, the mother of our victim. It was so hard seeing her that like that Mother. I couldn't imagine being the parent who has to sit there and wait for answers about their kids' killer." Just the thought of it brought a lot of emotion in both Richard and Martha. Both putting themselves in Aimee's shoes, how hard it must be to lose a child.

"Well, it's never easy to see it happen, but now you have an even bigger reason to solve this one, closure, for Aimee." As she came to her sons side, gently stroking his shoulder as her way to comfort him.

"Yeah you're right." But he still just sat there in a sad state of mind.

"How old was she?" Martha asked trying to get a little out of him it usually made Richard feel better.

"Oh- Uh she was 22 years old. She was studying in Psych at NYU. Apparently she was a brilliant student,"

"22 years old? Really?..." as Martha asked,

"Yeah why?" Richard was getting a weird vibe from his mother…her stare was making him feel a bit uneasy

"Well Richard…didn't she leave New York in the summer?"

"Yeah so?" Richard was wondering where all of this was going.

"Richard…" Martha was a little freaked out at what she was thinking she hoped that it was just bad instinct.

"Mother, What? What are you thinking?"

"Have you met the father of this young woman?"

"Well, no. Aimee didn't mention him, he was probably not in the picture maybe they're divorced or something."

Martha looked at Richard, her eyes were starting to clear up.

"What? No! Come on its impossible!" Rick was getting enraged by his mothers' allegations.

"Well, she left in the summer Richard, 22 years ago."

"Yeah she wanted to go to Florida, because she wanted to attend college there, she was sick and tired of the cold."

"Richard ask her, talk to her. I think you two have a lot of catching up to do, especially now." Martha was heart broken at the idea that Richard might have had another daughter that he had no idea about, and she was now dead. Her heart hurt at the thought of it but it was quite a coincidence, all the pieces seemed to fit.

"Yeah I think we need to talk." Richard got up and started dialling, he was going to find out what had happened 22 years ago.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

As Castle exited his loft she answered:

"Beckett,"

He didn't want to get her involved in this awkward situation but he had no way of communicating with Aimee so he had to call Beckett and get her number.

"Hi, I know I was supposed to leave you alone today but I need Aimee's number. Listen before you start saying anything, it's not what you think." Castle knew Kate too well she was already rolling her eyes but said nothing. "Something came up and it's really important I need to talk to her. Mother brought something to my attention and I need to figure things out. I need to know!" Castle's tone was upset and almost worried, clearly something was up and Kate felt it.

"Castle, what's going on? Are you okay?" And just like that all her dumb jealousy remarks flew out of her head, she was now worried.

"Kate, I need the number please don't ask me questions, this is my doing it has nothing to do with you!" Castle was getting almost aggressive, his heart was hurting, he might have another daughter and she might be dead. The last thing on his mind was to please Kate; he needed to get the truth out of Aimee. He needed to know…NOW!

"Castle I…Ok, I hear you, but if you need support I'm here whatever you need. I'm sorry for this morning! I kno-"

"Kate it's not the time." As Castle cut her off.

Kate's heart went from fury to hurt. It wasn't like Richard to talk to her this way, and she knew he was upset. So she didn't argue and gave him the number.

"Ok, hold on…her number is 212-555-1978. Castle if you need anything, I'm here…ok?" Kate felt helpless, she had no idea what was going on, and it worried her.

"Thank you." And he hung up.

Kate was completely caught off guard, she had a lump in her throat her friend was in distress and wasn't letting her help him.

She tried going back to work, but this time she couldn't. She was used to putting things in the back of her mind by working, but this time, this time it wasn't working.

As soon as Richard hung up with Beckett he dialled Aimee's number. His heart was pounding from anger and angst he didn't know what to think. As he got her on the line he asked her to meet up at a café so they could talk things through.

Aimee sensed the urgency of his call so she agreed to meet up with him.

Twenty minutes later Aimee arrived at Café Morgan, she was all smiles when she saw him but once she met with his eyes, her smile faded. Rick's face was that of fear and filled with questions. She walked towards him and sat down. For a few moments neither of them talked, their wonderful morning greeting was far behind them now.

Aimee figured that he had put it all together and started talking:

"Rick, I…" she couldn't bring herself to speak, the hurt on his face was crushing her heart, even though it was already hurting from her daughters' death.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Rick asked quietly almost whispering. All the anger had become sadness, as his eyes filled with tears.

"You didn't think I'd make a good father? You don't think I was adequate enough to have a kid at the time? Why? Why didn't you tell me?" Rick's questions were asked in desperation he didn't comprehend her actions.

"No, I never thought that you wouldn't make a good father, on the contrary. But when I found out, we had already started drifting apart and you wanted to become a writer so bad and you didn't seem to be ready for a kid. I thought that moving away with her would make it easier on the both of us. I didn't want to be a burden and I thought that maybe you might have tried to per sway me in not keeping it. I was so confused Rick that the only thing that made sense at the time was this baby." She was looking back at him, her eyes now filling with tears, her heart was hurting so much for all the pain he was feeling.

Rick was a complete mess but he knew she was right they had started to drift apart at the time.

"I would have never asked you to terminate if you would have wanted to keep it. Ok, maybe I was a self centered jack ass because I wanted to become a writer but I could have taken care of the baby. I would have assumed my responsibilities." All he could do was stare at the table.

He had had a daughter out there for 22 yrs and now that he finds out she exists she's taken away from him. It was a double stab to the heart.

"I still think that you should have told me! Did she ever ask for me?" He's sad eyes were like darts piercing Aimee's heart.

"Yes, of course she did. I told her that you were a writer. But once you started getting published you changed your name from Rodgers to Castle, therefore she had no idea. She knew her father's name was Richard Rodgers. Then I married Jeff when she was 5, and she stopped asking about you. I thought she might have forgotten and wouldn't ask again." Aimee thought that it would make it easier on her and Sharon they'd never bring it up again.

"But, she started asking questions again, about two years ago. So…I told her, I told her that you had changed your name to Richard Castle, she started reading your books and really enjoyed them." Aimee was smiling at Richard at this point the memories of her daughter getting to know her father was relief to her. "You know she was planning on meeting you eventually…" Tears were filling Aimee's eyes and her heart hurt too much, she felt a squeezed in her chest. She couldn't keep it in anymore.

"I'm sorry I didn't want you to find out like this…I would have wanted to make it more official. I didn't want to just spill it out." Aimee was trying to control her cries but she wasn't doing a very good job at it. It was overwhelming it was too much emotion in a day.

Richard watched her, sitting there in complete misery. He moved closer to her and held her in his arms. They both needed the comfort from one another at this point.

Kate passed by the Café, the nearest coffee place to the precinct, she was arriving from what she thought was a lead. And then she saw Castle and Aimee, holding each other. Her heart leapt, she didn't want to see it but there was obviously something between these two. After a few seconds her eyes redirected themselves to the ground, she swallowed the lump in her throat and decided to get coffee at the precinct instead.

After the heartfelt meeting with Aimee, Castle wanted to share the news with Beckett. Even though she had acted weird this morning he had been some what rough with her. He also wanted to tell her about the new turn of events. Castle couldn't keep something like this from her, it was too big, and he wanted her to know. She was one of the most precious people in his life, with his mother and his daughter. He needed to tell her.

"Beckett, it's me…can you meet me at the Café downstairs, we need to talk." Castle had called Kate on her phone.

"Sure, I'll be right over." She hung up, wondering why he didn't want to talk at the precinct. Her whole body felt like it weighed a tonne, she didn't want Rick to tell her that he had gotten back together with Aimee. From what she saw, from their embrace, something was happening.

It took about 2 minutes for Kate to get to Rick as she spotted him, where he had been before, she walked over. Kate was relieved that Aimee seemed to be gone.

"Hey Castle, how are you?" she smiled,

Rick saw that her smile was sincere and smiled faintly back.

"Rick what's wrong?" as she sat down beside him with a concerned look.

Rick took a deep breath and let it out:

"Sharon Gallant… well she's my daughter." As his eyes went from Kate to the table

"What? Are you sure?" Kate's heart literally skipped a beat, she was kind of freaking out she started hyper ventilating…_He has another daughter?...oh god dead daughter_

"Oh my god Castle, I'm so sorry," as she put her hand on his, to comfort him.

"But-how? I mean" Kate was speechless

"Well when she moved to Florida she was already pregnant and she decided not to tell me. She thought I wouldn't have wanted it… Sharon found out who I was… she wanted to meet me." Castle said with a little corner smile. Which faded as soon as it had appeared, he would never get to meet her now.

He looked up at Kate, he was so completely beaten up about all this. He seemed so helpless, like nothing Kate did could make it go away. Kate changed seats, sat beside him and hugged him.

"It's ok Castle, we'll get through this, I promise. We'll find who did this, ok?" as she pulled away to look at him.

"Yeah, thanks."

Kate smiled at him and hugged him, really hard. Seeing him like this was breaking her heart. A bombshell had been thrown on him and now he had to deal with it.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

After being at the Café for about 30 minutes, they talked about the situation and what they had up to now on the case. While Castle was talking about the case, Kate was thinking about something else. She then cut him off:

"Castle, I don't think that you working on this case is a good idea. You might be too close to this one." Beckett didn't know how he'd react if she'd prevent him from helping on this one.

"What? No Beckett, I'm fine. I didn't know the girl it's just a lot to process that's all." He was obviously tormented by the situation. He knew that it was getting to him and that it might cloud his mind but he wanted to be part of it.

Beckett analyzed him, knowing that not being part of this would kill him just as much as it would if he'd stay home and wait for answers. She thought that she'd offer but, if he didn't want to stay away she'd have to look out for him.

"Ok, fine you can stay but if you feel that it's getting too hard, pull away, ok?" she asked him.

"Ok, promise" as he gave her a smile, appreciating her caring for him enough to let him be part of it.

"Are you ready to go?" as she took the last sip of the latte.

"Ready." Castle got up and led the way to the exit. His usual up right stature was replaced by a hunch.

"Hey you know what, we had a rough day, how about we call it a night? If you want we could all go to Remi's and then have a drink at The Old Haunt, it'll change your mind and we'd all need to relax a little. What do you think?" Beckett's suggestion took Castle off guard, it wasn't like her to propose such a friendly type of soirée, she's more the; take a glass of wine alone at home type of girl.

He turned and looked at her, her offer was completely sincere.

She knew that the rest of the gang would do it for Castle, because this wasn't easy for him.

"Ok," he said with a smile "Sounds like a great idea, seeing everyone will be good."

"Ok good let me call everyone and we'll all meet at Remi's at around 7, is that good?" Kate asked as she looked back in his sad yet hopeful eyes.

"Yeah sounds good, I'll pick you up on the way."

"Ok perfect 7 it is."

They both started walking towards the precinct they were going to ask the boys once there and then call up Lanie and Jenny for them to join.

Beckett was being really nice and Castle liked that she cared about him. She knew that he was going through a lot and you take care of those you love. Even if she would hardly admit it to herself she loved this man. He was her world, but for now he was a close friend. She wasn't ready to admit that to herself just yet.

"I'll take a cab and go home for now, pick me up later. I haven't eaten much today so I'll have something at home." Castle told Beckett as they continued walking towards the station.

"Ok yeah that's a good idea, I'll pick you up around 6:45." She smiled and walked in the precinct while Castle nodded a 'yes' got into the cab.

As she saw him enter the cab she felt a lump in her throat she felt so sad for Castle, he was such a good man, a kind man. He didn't deserve this type of new and especially not in these circumstances. As she thought about it more tears started forming in her eyes. She swallowed the lump, held back the tears she needed to go inside and invite all their friends to this nice little night she had planned.

As she got out of the elevator she spotted Esposito and Ryan at their desks. She walked over:

"Hey guys, I was thinking...considering the chain of events and the news Castle got today I think that we should do something so...I thought we could all go to Remi's have a few burgers and then head out to The Old Haunt, what do you guys think?"

Ryan and Esposito looked at each other, it wasn't like Kate to organise something like this then they both looked back at her with a smile.

"So? Are you guys coming?" Beckett was annoyed by their stares and smiles but she wasn't about to walk right into that one. She knew if she'd ask why they were looking at her that way that they'd say she was doing this because she liked him, so she ignored it.

"Yeah we'll go," Esposito said in a 'fine don't talk about it' tone

"Yeah I'm in too." Ryan confirmed.

"Ok, perfect hey Ryan call up Jenny to see if she'd want to come, the more the merrier." Beckett said with a smile. "I'll call Lanie to see if she can come." As she walked back to her desk.

It was now around 10:30pm and they had all eaten like pigs at Remi's their burgers were huge but oh so good. They were all in a booth at The Old Haunt, they had already all ordered their first drinks and were having a blast. The ladies were all on one side and then men on the other.

Jenny and Ryan were all lovey dovey at the end of the seat, while Esposito and Lanie were eyeing each other in an obvious way, leaving Beckett and Castle sitting one in front of another.

They were all talking about the wedding and how everyone had so much fun.

"Oh my god Castle you and your dance, what was that? A mix of the chicken dance and the Macarena." Jenny asked

Everyone started laughing, Castle had been goofing around on the dance floor just for fun and of course because he might had drank a little too much.

"What? What dance?" Castle looked at everyone with a confused looked on his face.

"Come on Castle, the dance...you were dancing all over the place doing a lot of weird things." Beckett was telling him with a huge grin.

"Really? I don't...oh right...did I...was I on one of the base speakers at one point?" as he slowly started remembering the evening "ahh yeah...good times" and then a huge grin appeared on his face. He then suddenly glanced over at Kate.

He looked at her as if he had had a slap in the face, as though he had just remembered something about that evening. Beckett then blushed broke the eye contact and started staring at her glass.

Everyone at the table stopped talking and were intrigued about what had just happened.

"Umm guys? What happened?" as Jenny asked discretely.

Beckett's cheeks were becoming more and more red. She slowly glanced over at Castle who looked at her as though he couldn't believe that he had forgotten such a thing. What he thought was a dream might actually have been reality.

Once their eyes were locked into one another they just sat there and gazed into each others' eyes. And just like that it was clear as glass, he hadn't dreamed about kissing her, he had.

"Wait, that wasn't a dream?" as he asked, completely forgetting about the other four.

"Yeah, it happened, but you were so out of it, I didn't mention it." As Beckett said it she suddenly became aware that they weren't alone.

She slowly moved her eyes from Castle to Lanie, who was in shock that Beckett hadn't mentioned it to her.

Castle got up took Beckett's arm and took her away from the gang, he wanted to talk to her about it. He felt bad that he had no recollection of it before now.

"Beckett, why didn't you tell me? I mean I thought it was a dream but the flashback about the dance brought back this one too." Castle was somewhat distraught about the situation. He was happy it happened but not so much that he had forgotten about it.

"Well, you were pretty much wasted and I didn't think that you'd want me to talk to you about a kiss that you wouldn't have remembered." She said in an agitated voice, she was a little mad that he didn't remember it, because it was a great kiss. One of the best she had ever had

"If you would have mentioned it, it might have come back to me. I hope that it wasn't followed by a slap across the face." Castle said jokingly but wasn't convinced that it might not have happened.

"HA! No...I didn't slap you" Beckett said in a laugh, as though a kiss from him was a disgrace.

"Of course I didn't slap you Castle." There it was her _oh crap I said too much_ look. It was too late it was out there but, surprisingly Beckett was relieved, she was glad that he knew and glad that she didn't mind it.

"Why? I mean, it must have been inappropriate I'm sorry if it was." Castle wasn't sure of how it had happened but then it seemed to all come back to him, as he stood there in front of her, almost as if he could see it happening in her eyes.

He gazed back into her eyes, she wanted to talk but he cut her off:

"Oh right...we had just finished dancing on this horrible 80's song when a slow song started. I asked you if you wanted to dance and you said yes." He looked at her as though he was dreaming it, his heart was getting lighter as the memory of the evening was coming back to him.

"It was a great song and a great dance, " as he smiled at her "but then my head started spinning, probably from that last glass of wine. I excused myself and headed outside to catch some fresh air, but followed me. You said that you wanted to make sure that I was going to be ok." Kate was now smiling back at him, content that it was coming back to him.

"We sat on the curb, and we were talking about...ummm I don't remember but I remember that you were cold and I lent you my jacket. As I took it off and put in on your shoulder our hands touched and you looked at me. You looked at me in a way that I had never seen before, your eyes were shinning and you had a beautiful smile. Then you said, 'Castle, I had no idea you were such a good dancer,' and then I said:" as he looked to the ground and almost rolled eyes at himself finding what he said so stupid and immature.

Kate was looking back at him with a big smile waiting for him to say it.

"And then I said, well Kate I'm a much better kisser and I kissed you." He looked up at her and she was all smiles, she had butterflies in her stomach because she remembered the kiss.

As she continued looking at him she put a hand on his arm and leaned in:

"You're right you are a better kisser, than dancer." And moved back to her spot

Castle's face was priceless and a smug smile came across his face, he took a step towards Kate, pushed her hair away from her ear and leaned into her.

"Well, I can show you again if you want." As he pulled away he caught a smell of her perfume it was new, and he liked it.

Kate's immediate reaction was a sudden blush and then she looked over her shoulder, seeing her friends, with their mouths open because of what they had just seen. She turned back to Castle:

"Ok, maybe but not for all to see."

Castle was confused, was she joking or was she serious. He stood there and looked at her. She chuckled a laugh, smiled and started heading back to the booth when Castle took her by the arm. As he tugged her she turned and faced him. As he pulled her closer to him, he took his right hand, placing it on the back of her neck and caressing her jaw with his thumb. She couldn't pull away she was drawn to him, he leaned in and kissed her.

His lips were gentle, Kate's stomach jolted as her lips met his. Her stomach felt as though she was in a roller coaster ride, but in a good and gentle one.

The kiss was perfect just like she had remembered. Castle gently pulled away, opening his eyes and looking at Kate, who's eyes were still closed and her mouth still slightly open.

As she opened her eyes he leaned in and said:

"I'll remember this one for sure. No need for flashbacks I'll never forget this one."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

The next morning Beckett woke up in bed with a smile. She was remembering last nights' kiss, she had even dreamt about it. Although the real kiss was much better than the dream. She got up, got dressed and went to work.

On her way to the precinct she wondered how the boys would react to her. What comment they'd say. As she drove she figured that she'd deal with it then. No need to make a big deal out of it. It was only a kiss, although when she and Castle had come back to sit with them the night before all their mouths were opened and no one said anything, it actually took quite a while before they started talking again

She got out of her car and headed towards the precinct, her phone rang.

"Beckett," it was Lanie

"Ok, you got a match. I'll be there as soon as I can." And she hung up.

Lanie had received the ballistic results she was going to be able to indentify to whom the gun belonged to.

As she stepped out of the elevator she knew that this was it, this was the moment she was dreading. Beckett saw both guys talking over what seemed to be the case. She walked over to her desk and almost waited for their reply.

As soon as Esposito saw Beckett he got up and said:

"Yo! Did Lanie call you? She got the results from the ballistics."

"Yeah I know she just called." She was standing there, waiting for them to say something, but it never came.

Esposito sat back at his desk and continued working. _What the hell is going on? _ She thought to herself. After a few seconds she thought that maybe they respected it and thought she'd talk to them about it when the time came.

She decided to let it go and give Castle a call. But before she needed her coffee and then she'd call.

She got up and headed toward the break room.

A few minutes later she headed back to her desk when she saw Castle coming out of the elevator.

They both arrived at her desk at almost the same time. He had brought her a coffee, and put in on her desk.

"Oh, Thanks Castle. I got my own though you usually don't come in this early."

"Right, I thought I'd come in early today." As he sat down on the chair next to Beckett's desk. He sat and looked at her with a smile.

"Uh- Lanie called she got the results from the Ballistics, she wants us to come see her as soon as we can." Seeing Castle just sitting there made her stomach turn. She gave him a small smile. It was a mixture of shyness and nerves.

"Perfect, I'm ready when you are." Castle gave her a smile, he was happy and decided to let the world know.

After about five minutes they left the precinct. Once they were in the car Castle decided that he wanted to talk about it.

"Listen Kate, about last night... it was a great kiss." As he gently leaned into her as though to kiss her yet again.

Beckett stopped him.

"Castle. Yes it was a great kiss," as she bit her lip just thinking about it. "but it's not the time to get into that right now. We need to focus on this case and get the guy who did this. Once the case is over, we can talk all you want."

Castle nodded in agreement and went back in his seat as they smiled back at each other.

They entered the morgue and went up to Lanie.

"Hey Lanie, What are the ballistic results?" Beckett asked as she walked in.

When Castle and Beckett walked in there she was on the table and it hit Castle in the gut. After such a nice evening he had almost forgotten about it. But now seeing her lying there brought all the grief back.

Beckett and Lanie spotted the change in Castle's face. They both looked at one another not thinking that Sharon would have been lying there.

They all stood there for a few moments and Lanie started:

"Ok so ballistics came back." Lanie walked towards a computer which showed the results, "The gun was a Glock 17, and it had been tagged in the system from a prior assault. It belongs to a Sheldon Fergie, a former drug dealer. He's been out of jail for about a month. I don't know if he's your guy, but the gun is still in his name"

"Thank you Lanie. It's a start," Beckett as she went to talk to Castle who she thought was behind them but he wasn't

The girls hadn't noticed that Castle hadn't followed them. He had stayed back and looked at Sharon and he just stood there, watching her.

They both glanced at each other, both feeling terribly sad for him. He was a good man and didn't deserve to go through this. Beckett and Lanie both walked towards him, almost in unison, while looking at him. They let him take it all in, he needed time to process and they let him do so for a few more minutes.

"Castle," Kate said as she gently touched his arm for both comfort and to get his attention.

He looked up at her upset and hurt. His eyes which were usually of a bright cheerful blue were more dark and gloomy.

"We have a led, do you still want to look into it? You don't have to, if you'd rather go home I'll understand." Her gaze was gentle and sweet she didn't want him to feel obliged to do this.

"No, I'll come with you, I need to keep my head going, or else I think I'll go crazy." As he turned around and exited the morgue, overwhelmed by all the emotion.

Kate looked at Lanie and said :

"Thanks, if you find anything else let me know."

Lanie nodded back in agreement and Kate disappeared behind the doors.

A few hours had passed and the boys had been able to make Castle think about something else, they made his mind wonder on different things. He seemed back to his old self again, his posture had straightened and he seemed assertive. Beckett entered the interrogation room while Castle followed her in, sitting beside one another.

"Mr. Sheldon Fergie, I have it here that you did two years at Rikers? I see that you cut a deal last time only serving 2 years, for cooperating and, for a first offense. I also see that you had a Gluck 17 'accidentally' shooting someone. Is that right?" Beckett asked

"Yeah, I did but I didn't kill the guy. It was an accident." The man was scrawny with greasy hair. He looked like he hadn't eaten in weeks his cheeks seemed to go inward and his eyes gave the impression that they were going to pop out.

"Right, you got lucky only getting two years. You must have given a lot of information to get off that easily."

"Well, they wanted to know where the next big deal was going down and I gave them the time and date. If it worked they cut my sentence from eight to two years. So I gave them all the information they wanted." Fergie's eyes seem to widen as he went back in time, thinking about his old life.

As Sheldon was telling the story Beckett saw in his eyes what she hadn't seen before, the hunger to do it all; Sell the drugs, to be his own man, to cut the deals, she saw: the criminal.

"I see and where were you last night between the hours of 1:00-3:00am?"

"Are you asking me for my alibi detective?" he asked in a _are you kidding me _ tone.

"Yes I am." Beckett said

"Ok fine. Last night I was at Sunny's Club until about 1:30am."

"Ok, and where did you go after?" Beckett asked

"I went home." His face was stern and he let nothing show.

"Well it turns out that our victim was killed at exactly that time. Now, what happened exactly?" Beckett knew that he was hiding something.

"Fine, I went to the Sunny's Club to talk to Molly. I had lent her my gun. She asked for it because she needed protection. I lent her the gun, knowing that she was always surrounded by drunk guys and sometimes some got pretty rough. I thought that with it she could at least scare them off." His expression seemed sincere as though he had been worried for her.

"Ok," Beckett nodded and continued listening.

"At first, I thought that the problems were her clients, but then I found out that she was selling drugs but was keeping the money for herself. As soon as I found out I went to the bar and warned her. I told her that stealing money from drug lords wasn't a good idea. I told her that she was putting her life in danger. I told her that she should think of another way to deal with her money problems. But, she completely ignored me she brushed it off as if it was nothing to worry about." His jaw was tensing up, her reaction was still pissing him off.

"Ok and what happened next?" she asked. Both Beckett and Castle we interested in what he was saying

"Well, after a few drinks I decided to head home, I saw that she didn't care and thought to myself that she'd have to deal with the consequences. So before leaving I glanced at the bar thinking that maybe I could try convincing her again but she wasn't there. I figured that she had already left. So I headed home. After walking a bloc or so I saw her. She was walking right there in front of me, so I thought I'd warn her again. I thought maybe this time she'd be more receptive. So I walk up to her and I take her by the arm. She started fighting me off. I kept telling her 'hey it's me Molly it's Sheldon' but she answered: 'I'm not Molly I'm Sharon.' And that's when I stopped and took a good look at her. She was wasn't Molly, but from far they seemed the same, both have long blond hair and almost had the same physique. I apologized several time for the mix up and walked off."

Castle was completely emerged in his story by this point his mouth almost open.

"Then I heard it, the gun shot. My first reaction was to run, so I got the hell out of there!"

"You heard a gunshot and didn't call the police?" Beckett said in her usual annoyed toned.

"Seriously? I was scared out of my mind. I was in the drug business before and when you hear it, you flee it! You don't stick around and try to help. Once I got home though it's the only thing I could think of, but I figured that someone would find her once the bar would close." He looked at his fingers, and playing with them.

"So...that's it? Why didn't you call the cops when you got home?"

"I don't know, I didn't know that it had actually hit anyone. Like I said when I heard it I bolted to my apartment."

"Ok, well we'll have to keep you in holding just in case we need to talk to you again."

Beckett got up, took her things and headed out the door.

Castle and Beckett walked back to her desk.

"You were quiet in there Castle, what happened?" as she looked at him with a concerned look. It wasn't like him not to ask questions or butt in.

"I-I didn't really want to ask the questions, I knew you would come up with good ones. I thought I'd just watch it unravel."

Beckett saw the look on his face and decided to drop it. He was obviously upset that Sheldon had mistaken Sharon for Molly...if she would have left the bar 5 minutes before or after she wouldn't have gotten shot.

"So now, we've got to get Molly back here...this should be interesting." Beckett mentioned. She now had the dirt she needed to really get to her.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Beckett sat at her desk, waiting for Esposito and Ryan to arrive with Molly. Castle had gone out to get something to eat, sushi was on the menu tonight.

Kate was gazing at her screen, staring at Molly's dossier. She had a slight smile on her face, the only thing that was running through her mind right now was that kiss. She was living it, going through the soft, gentle, silk-like kiss. He was an even better kisser than she had remembered from previous time although, the other kiss was more like a quick smooch.

"What are you smiling about?" Castle asked as he deposited the food on her desk.

"Uh-I was...Hey did you get extra wasabi?" Beckett was trying to change the subject. Her screen was on a dossier therefore nothing funny about it.

"Oh yes, I remember last time you let me know for two days that those sushi would have been better with more wasabi. Trust me that's not going to happen again" as he looked at her with his serious eyes.

"Oh come on Castle, it wasn't that bad. I was just teasing. They were still good I mean they are the best in the city." Kate smiled back at Castle.

"Yeah well, still...not going to forget again. You don't know how bad you can be when you're hungry." Castle said seriously

Beckett just looked at him and chuckled a laugh, she knew that she could be a lot to handle when hungry and she has no patience whatsoever.

Castle started taking out the chopsticks and the food. He took out several plastic containers which had about 10 pieces in them.

"Umm- Castle? How hungry are you?"

As he looked at the 5 containers on her desk he realised that maybe he had exaggerated with his order.

"Uhhh pretty hungry from the looks of it. Well we could give the rest to Esposito, he's always eating the scraps from my lunch anyways" He looked at Beckett and she nodded in agreement.

After about 10 minutes later Beckett surrendered she had eaten about 20 pieces and she was full, putting the sticks in an empty plastic container.

"What? You're done?" Castle asked

"Yeah, I was really hungry and now I think I ate too much. I hate how sushi can do that to you but... I still love them."

As Castle finished eating the last of the sushi, he started getting all the empty containers together to through them out.

"Yo Beckett." Esposito said while escorting Molly to interrogation room one.

Beckett nodded back in notification that she had seen him.

She got up, got her leather folder and headed to the interrogation room.

Castle gathered all the garbage in a neat pile and threw them out as he passed the garbage bin.

Beckett entered the room as Castle followed.

The woman was wearing jeans and a plain tee.

"Do you know why you are here Molly?"

"No, why?" Molly was trying to play it cool,

"Right...well we now have evidence that you might be in some kind of trouble?" Beckett asked waiting for Molly's response.

Molly flicked her hair, and looked over at Castle and then back at Beckett.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Molly didn't seem to want to give out any information about anything.

"Are you sure? Because I have a certain Sheldon Fergie that tells me that he lent you his gun for protection. The gun that killed Sharon." Beckett's stare was intense. She sat back into her chair crossing her arms, waiting for Molly's reply.

It took a few minutes of staring back and forth with Castle and Beckett before Molly started talking.

"Fine! I went to see Sheldon about a month ago. I knew that he was out of jail and that he might be able to help me. I talked to him about my situation telling him that I had some frisky clients. He offered me his gun, so I took it."

"Who were you afraid of? Drunk men? I'm sure that to doormen at your work could have taken care of them." Beckett sat there with here intimidating stare waiting for her to tell the truth.

But Molly just sat there and said nothing.

"Oh come on Molly we both know that the gun you had wasn't purely for drunk clients at the bar was it?" Castle had decided to say something.

Molly was clearly hiding something...she knew that Sheldon must have told them everything.

Molly sat there for a while, she was getting more and more nervous as silence remained in the room. Neither Castle nor Beckett had asked further questions, just sitting there and looking back at her was doing the job. She wasn't sustaining eye contact anymore which meant that she was getting intimidated.

15 minutes might have passed but it seemed like hours for Molly.

"Ok," she said faintly as though she was telling herself that it was no use to keep it to herself anymore.

"Ok, so...I started selling drugs about two months ago."

"Who were you selling them for?"

Molly looked back at Beckett giving her a _Seriously _look.

"Fine! His name is Fernado Aparo."

Beckett wrote his name down but then gave Molly a questioned look.

"Fernado Aparo? He's your drug dealer?" Beckett gave her a look basically saying _ok now you're fucking with me!_

Castle was getting confused the name didn't sound familiar therefore he didn't see how relevant it was. He looked at Beckett he knew her and her posture meant that she knew something and knew that Molly was lying...again!

"Yeah why?"

"Because from what I recall Mr. Aparo is not a drug dealer but a Pimp." Beckett's look was stern and she was getting pissed. She hated when people lied to face.

"I..." Molly was speechless, she was busted. She knew that the detective had meat on her and that if she didn't stop lying, things would get bad, real bad.

"Ok...he's my pimp. But I did it because I need the money. I need to pay rent and bills and school. I wasn't able to pay for anything anymore, I needed a way to get easy money. I saw Fernando a few months back, he was at the bar, ordering glasses of scotch when he approached me with the deal. At first he only wanted me to sell some drugs for him. He said he'd cut me a deal and give me half the profits. So I said yes right away. But, his 50% profit turned out to be less than 10%." Molly was frustrated by all of it she had gotten screwed over but once you're in the game, good luck getting out.

"I wanted out! I told him that I wanted to stop selling the drugs. He told me that I couldn't because ever since I had started selling, his sales had increased 20%. He told me 'Hell no you're not going to stop selling. But I have something that might interest you and it pays more than this.' So he talked about to me about...you know...screwing with guys." She was obviously ashamed by all of it. Ashamed that she used her body for money.

Beckett wasn't the kind to feel sorry for people, especially suspects, but she saw that this woman was going through a lot and it must be tough to live through.

"Anyways so about a month ago he became my pimp. The first guys were ok, I mean they weren't violent or anything but after a while it was getting too intense. I talked to Fernado about it but he didn't seem to care, hence why I wanted a gun. If the clients were to get to violent or insistent well I'd have something to scare them off with."

"Ok but how did Sheldon's gun end up killing Sharon?"

"uh-right...I'm getting there." Molly was trying to explain everything as it happened, she didn't want to lie anymore she wanted to get her story straight.

Beckett nodded and continued listening.

"Ok, so one night like two weeks Fernado gave me stuff to sell and told me to hang on to the profits until he came back. So I sold all the stuff that same night, but when he came back a few nights later, I pretended like I had only sold a quarter of what he gave me. I told him that it had been quiet, and he believed me. After a while I got used to having the money, I kept lying about selling it but he still gave me more the sell. It didn't take long for him to figure out that I was keeping the money to myself so last night he came to the bar." The look in her eyes were that of fright obviously scared of something, or someone.

"Last night he came to the bar and was pissed. He told me that he knew that I had the money and that I better give it back. When we were talking he saw my purse behind the counter, he raised the bar and went for it. He started going through it even though I tried to prevent him from doing so. But he found it, he found the gun. He looked up at me and said, 'Well...well...well...what do we have here? Ok well, you better give me my money or else, you'll know what's going to happen to you' and he took the gun. After his threat he looked at me then back at the purse, he took it, taking my wallet out. But the money was gone. I spent it on rent, which I was 3 months late for, my tuition and the rest of last semesters' fees."

"Oh, Molly...what were you thinking?" the words escaped Castle's lips

All Molly could do at this point was look down at the table.

"When he found out that I had spent his money, and that he wasn't going to see it I think he figured he wanted to scare me. He must have thought that Sharon was me and now she's dead because of me." Tears were starting to descend down her cheeks. It was the first time that either Beckett or Castle had seen empathy from her.

"How much did you owe him?" Castle asked

"About 10 000$, I know it was stupid but I needed to pay for all these things and I want to stay in school. I want to get a good job but if I get a loan I'll never get to pay it off." Molly was ranting, the stress was now talking and that was her defense mechanism.

"I feel so bad for Sharon, I mean she was so close..." Molly was still talking at the table.

"Close to what?" Castle asked with intrigue

"She told me she was going to meet her dad, she said she found him." Molly was starting to look back up at Beckett, it was faint but Molly had a little smile.

"She told me that she was ready to meet him, she had done her research and she was ready to go for it. I mean it's all she'd been talking about for the past few weeks. It's just too bad that it'll never happen."

Castle face changed completely, life was draining out of him. The color in his face was no longer pink but white.

Molly noticed the change in him...

"Uh-sir? Are you alright?"

Beckett's heart was hurting he was fighting back the rage and the sadness all at once.

"Castle, you can leave if you'd like." Beckett said while putting her hand on his shoulder

Castle got up and went for the door, this was getting too hard for him.

"Castle? Wow, that's weird Sharon told me that he dad's name was Richard Castle. You aren't him are you?" Molly's face was distraught, knowing something was wrong.

Beckett got up and went to the door with Castle.

"Castle if you're not up to it, go home. I'll come over later and we can talk. I don't want you to get more hurt than you already are. I know it's going to drive you crazy being home but being here isn't going to get any easier." Beckett whispered to him as he stood in the doorway.

Rick's facial expression hurt Kate, all she wanted to do was hold him and make it go away but it would take a lot more than a hug to make it stop.

"Yeah you're right staying here isn't the best right now, but if you could come over later I'd like to have an update on the situation. Thank you for all of this." He smiled knowing that he'd see her later, being with her made it that much easier. She was his sunshine, even in the dark.

"Always," as she smiled back at him. Doing this for him was the least she could do, especially in these circumstances.

Beckett closed the door behind her and continued the interrogation.

"Molly, when was the last time that someone saw you at work?" Beckett continued her investigation she needed things cleared out.

"The last time people saw me at work was...well the night Sharon was killed."

"Ok, so no one knows that you're technically alive right?"

"Yeah I guess so why?"

"Well, Fernado thinks that he killed you, so we need him to think that you're dead. When's your next shift at the bar?"

"Um...in two nights why?"

"Ok, none of you concern for now. Can you promise me that you'll stay home until then and not leave?"

"I could but why would I?"

"Because it's for your own safety, you have promise to stay put for the next 48hrs."

"Yeah, sure I have loads of papers to do for my law classes, it should keep me busy."

"Ok if I need you I'll give you a call, I'm trying to keep you safe."

"Thank you detective, I appreciate it."

"Don't thank me, just tell yourself that if you get out of this one you have to find a new way to getting money because this Molly, this isn't working, you're worth more than selling yourself and selling the drugs. You said you were in law try and find an intern job somewhere it'll be a lot safer."

"Yes, Mam" was all Molly could bring herself to say, she knew that the detective was right. She needed to change her work habits and respect herself more.

Beckett got up and looked back at Molly,

"Keep your cell on at all times, just in case."

Molly acknowledged her request with a nod.

"You can go now," as she exited the room.

Beckett had started doing some paperwork relevant to the case, writing down everything she had up to now.

After a while she took her phone out of her pocket, saw that it was 10:43pm and that she had recieved a text message. Oddly enough she hadn't heard it beep for she had recieved it at 10:38pm:

'_Hey Kate, I'm still waiting. You better show cause I tried sleeping and it's not working. I need to know where you're at. I'll wait for your call'_

As she read the message a smile appeared on her lips, she was glad that he was up and waiting for her. She knew that he was going through a rough patch and knowing that Alexis was out of town for a week, for a school trip, wasn't helping.

Kate picked up her phone and decided to text him instead she thought it'd be faster.

'_Hey I got your message I'm leaving now, I should be there in about 10."_

When she finished writing she put on her coat and grabbed her purse, then her phone beeped. She looked down and read:

'_The wine is ready and I'm under the covers :P Just kidding, but I'll be waiting'_ the message made her laugh she knew that if he was joking like this he was feeling better.

She put the phone in her coat pocket and headed for the elevator door.


End file.
